Like other tender leafy herbs (basil, parsley, cilantro), it's best to chop mint with a sharp knife and a clean cut. Too much pounding can discolor the delicate leaves. This matters most when sliced leaves are added in an uncooked dish, or just before serving. Some dishes call for the leaves to be left whole, or torn into smaller pieces, in which case you can avoid the knife altogether.To slice or mince the leaves, first stack them together in a pile.Next, roll them up into a cigar-like shape and hold them together with your fingers.Keeping the cigar in shape, slice it into strips as thick or thin as you like. Run the knife down onto the leaves, and across them at the same time. Moving in both directions at the same time makes for a cleaner cut. At this point, you can either leave the leaves in thin strips, or run the knife through the strips again to make a mince.
A fritter is a catch-all phrase for a little cake-like morsel of food that's traditionally doused in a batter (or chopped up and combined with batter) and deep-fried.
You can eat fritters as a main course, a side, a dessert or a snack. Fritters can be made from just about any main ingredient, but crab, corn or apples are popular ingredients.
The British are particularly fond of drowning unlikely foodstuffs in batter -- pizza, or Mars bars, for example -- and frying the hell out of them. Fish and chips, no stranger to the deep fat fryer themselves, are often accompanied by additional battered fried fritters that can range from pineapples to peas.
Once a prize kept under lock and key in wealthy households, sugar is now ubiquitous and comes in many forms. Most commercial sugar is made from cane or beet root. Here's a look at the most common types of sugar used in the kitchen.
Granulated white sugar: White sugar is highly refined and made from sugarcane or beets. This all-purpose refined white sugar has small but fairly coarse crystals and is used to sprinkle on food, sweeten beverages, or add to dishes during cooking. Golden granulated sugar is a brown sugar made from sugar cane molasses that is similar but has a light brown color.
Castor (caster) or superfine sugar: This refined white sugar has fine crystals that dissolve more quickly than regular granulated sugar, making it a good choice for baking meringues. Golden castor sugar is made from unrefined cane sugar.
Brown sugar: Brown sugar is nothing more than white sugar that has been mixed with molasses to color it and give it a moist texture. Light brown sugar has less molasses than dark brown sugar. Brown sugar should not be confused with raw sugar, which has a similar color and taste but is actually the residue from processed sugarcane.
Turbinado sugar: A sugar cane extract that is made by steaming unrefined raw sugar. It has large crystals and a slight molasses flavor. It's a shade paler than brown sugar and can be substituted for brown sugar in recipes. We like to use turbinado sugar for sprinkling on top of muffins, cookies and scones. It holds its texture well and, when cooked, has a nice sweet crunch.
Demerara Sugar: True Demerara sugar is raw or partly refined sugar with large crystals, but some impostors are nothing more than white sugar stained with molasses.
Muscovado Sugar: This raw cane sugar comes in light and dark varieties and is used to make cakes and desserts.
Powdered, icing or confectioner's sugar: This sugar is made by reducing granulated sugar to a powder and mixing it with starch to prevent it from lumping up. It's used to decorate cakes and can also be used in making sweet dishes and baked goods.
Root Source: Flat-Leaf Parsley
Root Source: Flat-Leaf Parsley
what you should know
Can we just skip the part where we talk about how parsley is more than a garnish? Okay good.
We love the bright, grassy flavor of parsley in everything from soups to sauces to salads. And because it has more essential oils than curly-leaf parsley, we normally use the more flavorful flat-leaf, or Italian, parsley.
get fresh Jeanne Kelley, whose book Blue Eggs and Yellow Tomatoes we're giving away in this week's Root Source Challenge, notes how hearty parsley is: "I make a habit to buy it weekly at the farmer's market, and often return home to find the previous week's parsley in the fridge looking as perky as ever."
it's a keeper It is okay to have too much parsley. Before tossing into the fridge, wash and dry the bunch, then wrap it in a paper towel and cover it with a plastic bag. Parsley also freezes well, but don't bother with the ho-hum dried stuff.
knives down The best way to prep parsley is to hold the bouquet at an angle over a cutting board and run your knife across the top. If you get some tender stems, that's good. Stems have a lot of flavor.
what you need
Though you can manage your herb prep with any old pair of scissors, we like the multi-blade action of this pair of herb scissors from SNIP.
Nancy Verde Barr's Make It Italian is a clean, straightforward and intuitively designed cookbook that overflows with good uses for parsley.
We had no idea there was an Herb Society of America until we found (and immediately dug) its Essential Guide to Growing and Cooking with Herbs, edited by Katherine Schlosser.
what you do
There are hundred of variations and thousands of uses for this traditional Italian green sauce. Try spooning it over roasted potatoes or on top of pan-roasted fish
Speaking of green sauce and potatoes, try this chimichurri potato salad. Added while the potatoes are still hot, the flavor of "Argentina's ketchup" really soaks in.
Barbara Kafka's invigorating parsley soup will put to rest any doubts you have about parsley's ability to carry a dish.
With just a handful of ingredients, Greek lemon-egg soup is a simple, fast way to renew your spirits.
The parsley is what cuts through the rich layers of this ravioli with sweet potatoes and mascarpone
Featured recipe: We can't wait to make Helen Graves' celeriac soup with parsley oil and Lancashire cheese toasts. The recipe comes from Helen's blog Food Stories and is the winning recipe of this week's Root Source Challenge.
what you should know
Poor thyme. It deserves better than to be perenially butchered by pun-prone copy editors (and root source writers). "The thyme has come!" "Big-thyme flavor!" "Only thyme will tell..."
A woodsy, stimulating herb, thyme has a warm taste with a light whiff of a minty antiseptic. It's a friend to roasts and stews; unlike many other fresh herbs, it stands up well to long cooking times. (In this osso buco, we add it at the end for a stronger jolt of thyme, but for a subtler, more diffused flavor, you could add it much earlier.)
serving thyme If you've got t-t-t-too much thyme on your hands, try using it with eggs, tomatoes and lamb, three ingredients with an affinity for thyme.
thyme waits Thyme takes to drying as well as any herb. If a recipe calls for fresh thyme, use 1/3 of that amount in dried thyme. Many popular herb-spice blends call for thyme, notably Za'atar, Herbes de Provence and bouquet garni.
all in good Thyme was also used by various ancient Mediterraneans as a cleansing agent, embalming mix and symbol of courage for soldiers going off to battle.
what you need
Books on herbs often lean too heavily towards the non-culinary uses. With Herbs and Spices: The Cook's Reference, this isn't an issue.
Same goes for The Mediterranean Herb Cookbook, which focuses on the many cuisines -- Southern European, Middle Eastern, Northern African -- in the region where thyme originated.
Chip's favorite way to end a big meal is with the thyme-infused liqueur called farigoule.
The Vermont Country Store sells a beautiful maple bowl and chopper that's perfect for prepping lots of herbs.
what you do
Brys loves an orange- thyme vinaigrette as a simple highlight to the concentrated flavors of a roasted fennel and tomato salad.
In a simple penne, the tart sweetness of the tomatoes complements the farminess of the goat cheese. Everything benefits from the intense perfumey studs of chopped fresh thyme.
Roasting potatoes on high heat makes them crisp on the outside and pillowy and steamy on the inside. Lemon and thyme brighten the earthy potatoes.
For a classic fall side dish -- maybe alongside grilled flank steak with chimichurri marinade -- try these creamy white beans with garlic and thyme.
Roasted lamb with black olives, thyme and orange zest is a nearly perfect balance of flavors. Really. Nearly perfect.
Poaching, simmering and boiling are at heart identical cooking methods that in practice yield a variety of results. All that distinguishes one from the other is that each marks a different temperature stage in the process of bringing water to a boil.
As a pot of water heats, the water molecules near the bottom of the pot warm up first. As they get hotter, they move faster. Eventually, they move fast enough to rise toward the surface of the water, where they displace the cooler molecules up above, forcing them to fall to the bottom of the pot, where they in turn are heated and begin to rise.
Ultimately, the water gets hot enough to vaporize the molecules at the bottom of the pot into steam. Because steam is less dense than water, it rises, causing the surface of the water to swirl. This slight movement on the surface of the water is the visual sign that the water is ready for poaching (between 170 and 180F).
When enough steam forms, bubbles at the edge of the pot begin to break through the surface into a simmer (180 to 190F). When bubbles undulate across the entire surface of the water, it is said to be at a gentle boil (210F). And in just 2 more degrees, the surface of the water will break turbulently, cascading with large vigorous bubbles. This stage is called a rolling boil.
It is possible to stop the progression to a rolling boil by reducing the heat as the visual signs for poaching or simmering approach. You know you've got the burner just right when the water maintains the signs of any stage for a full minute. When you add food, the water temperature will drop, but don't turn up the heat. The water should return to the proper temperature within a minute. If it does not, you may have overcrowded the pot with too much food.
Cornmeal is ground sweet corn that is available in varying textures and colors depending on the type of corn used.
In general, choose fine flour-like cornmeal when baking cakes and pastries; fine or medium grinds for crumbly cornbreads; and coarse grinds to make polenta (yellow cornmeal) or grits (white cornmeal).
Steel-ground cornmeal is the most widely available in the United States. It is processed to remove the husk and germ of the maize kernel and has less nutritional value than stone- or water-ground cornmeal, which retains some of the husk and germ. Note that stone-ground cornmeal has natural oils that can go rancid and should be kept in the refrigerator for up to 4 months; steel-ground cornmeal has a long shelflife if kept in an airtight container in a dark place.
Steel-ground cornmeal, which is most commonly found on American shelves, is processed to remove the husk and germ of the maize kernel and stays fresh for as long as you need it if kept in a tightly sealed or air-tight container out of direct sunlight.
Stone- or water-ground cornmeal -- which is processed using millstones -- retains some of the husk and germ, making it more nutritious and also more perishable. Keep stone-ground cornmeal in the refrigerator to prevent its natural oils from going rancid; it will last up to 4 months.
What's the difference between a fritter and a croquette?
What's the difference between a fritter and a croquette?
Fritters and croquettes are both bite-sized sweet or savory morsels that are deep fried and served hot. You can make fritters and croquettes out of everything from seafood to apples.
Traditionally, a fritter is a piece of food that is dipped in batter before being fried, although many fritter recipes involve chopping up ingredients and mixing them with or without batter into a very soft dough before frying.
A French croquette classically consists of a sweet or savory mixture of ingredients bound in a thick sauce, shaped into bite-sized, usually cylindrical pieces, coated with egg and breadcrumbs and fried in oil until crisp and golden.
Cilantro is the parsley of the East, where it's known as "coriander leaves" or "dhani". (In Mexico, where it's also very popular, it's sometimes called "Mexican parsley".)
If you like cilantro (and some people don't at all), the herb is an easy way to add a beautifully fresh, sweet, fruity flavor to any dish.
To prep it, first rinse and shake dry the leaves. Hold the bouquet at an angle with the leaves against the cutting board. Run your knife down the side of the bouquet to slice away the leaves. It's fine to remove some of the tender stems along with the leaves. (In fact, for salsas, spice pastes, curries and some longer-cooking dishes, the stems add essential, concentrated cilantro flavor.)
Now just run your knife back and forth across the pile of leaves, chopping them as coarsely or as finely as you need to. The closer to the end of the cooking you plan to add the cilantro, the finer you'll want to chop it. But since cilantro is so tender it's usually okay to keep the the chop coarse.
Now that you know how to prep it, try some cilantro recipes at Cookthink.com.
Parsley used to be a gross-looking garnish on the side of your plate. Now, we think of it as one of the best go-to herbs to work into your cooking. It adds a bright but relatively neutral herbal flavor to almost any dish.To prep it, first rinse and shake dry the leaves. Hold the bouquet at an angle with the leaves against the cutting board. Run your knife down the side of the bouquet to slice away the leaves. It's fine to remove some of the tender stems along with the leaves.Now just run your knife back and forth across the pile of leaves, chopping them as coarsely or as finely as you need to. The closer to the end of the cooking you plan to add the parsley, the finer you'll want to chop it. But since parsley's so tender it's usually okay to keep the the chop coarse.
